Hey guys, so apparently I was the only one to vote one the poll for updates. So, I decided to update the stories that I have as much as I could. So, I was able to write two new chapters for this story. This is the start of the Tournament arc! What kind of tournament? Read to find out! R&R, PM, and Enjoy!

Chapter 4

It had been almost a month since Jacob faced John and his gang. The five had not been seen since, but Jacob kept a close eye on the shadows, just in case. Jacob had also regained his spirit for dueling, and even found guys around his age who still played the game. He asked them why they still played, with their responses mostly consisting of attending the Duel Academy. Jacob remembered that the United States made a new educational system where students would be enrolled in Duel Academy Classes automatically, which was combined with regular school. Upon reaching high school (9th grade), students were allowed to make a choice: continue with Advanced Classes at the Academy, or attend normal schools. An average of about 25% stayed at the Academy. It was mid-July, so registrations would be coming up and Jacob was determined to continue as a duelist, no matter what anyone else said.

He was currently walking towards the game and card shop, hoping to get a few more cards for his deck. His duel disk was on his belt in it's portable mode, his deck in his front pocket, because he thought five particular someones could swipe his deck from under his nose. He arrived at the shop and went inside. The shop wasn't very crowded, most of the people browsing through the shop. Jacob went up to the counter and the elderly woman asked, "Hello, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you had any new cards available. I want to upgrade my deck before I register for the Duel Academy in September." The woman nodded and stooped down. She got up after a minute or two with a wooden box in her hand.

"I've been saving these for a long time." She opened the box and Jacob's eyes lit up when he saw the contents. There were a dozen rare and powerful cards inside lined with foam to protect them: Phoenix Gearfried, Super Conductor Tyranno, Darkflare and Lightpulsar Dragon, Vampire Lord and Genesis, even a Cyber Dragon.

'These cards would make me near invincible, I don't even think the King of Games himself could stand up to all these together.' "How much?"

"I'm afraid the price may be too steep for you. Cyber Dragon alone costs $45*." Jacob nodded, and she sighed. "The total comes to $550." Jacob swallowed, and dug out his wallet from his left hand back pocket. He looked through its contents, counting the paper bills he had. Once he finished, he looked back at the cards and sighed, pulling out all the necessary bills and slapped them onto the counter. The woman was startled, but regained her composure and began to count the bills. The total had come to $600 flat.

"Amazing," the woman said, taking the cash and putting it into the register. "I probably couldn't imagine how you got this much money, even if you saved all this since you were born." She closed the lid to the box and handed it to Jacob.

"Let's just say," Jacob replied, "my dad works a very important position."

After receiving his change, he turned to leave but heard the woman say, "Oh, everyone! It's on!" Jacob turned to see the woman turn the volume on a mounted TV up, which was showing a news report.

"And in other news, Kaiba Corporation, which has recently branched out to the United States, announces the next generation of the popular card game, Duel Monsters. Now, players can make their own avatars and duel each other in the virtual world. The President, Seto Kaiba, has not given many details, but he is about to reveal some new information at today's press conference. We now go live to Ken Douglas, at the Grand Veil City Auditorium. Ken?"

The video changed to a man wearing a gray suit standing in front of a giant crowd. "Thanks Kate. Today, Mr. Kaiba is about to reveal new details for-oh, here he is now."

The video panned over to the stage, where a man in his late 50's to early 60's walked onto the stage. The crowd clapped and cheered, and the man stood at a podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, Kaiba Corp. was originally a company devoted to making weapons, run by my step-father, Gozaboru Kaiba. After he disappeared, I took his place, and turned this company into one of the most famous companies on the planet. Duel Monsters has become our most popular product to date, and has gone through many transformations. Duel Monsters began as an ordinary card game, and then turned into a huge success after our partnership with Industrial Illusions. Twenty years later, dueling transformed again with the advent of Turbo Duels, and again after ten years with augmented reality. Now, Duel Monsters is about to reach it's highest point to date."

A man in his early 50's walked onto the stage with a table on wheels. It had a sheet over it, with something bulky underneath. "Behold, the next generation of Duel Monsters. I give you, Duel Monsters Network!" The younger man took the sheet off in a quick, fluid motion, revealing the contents underneath. There were three things visible: a game disk case, a helmet with a visor, and a medium-sized brick shaped machine with a square hole in the front.

"Many of you thought Duel Monsters was going to be a Massively Multiplayer Online game, or MMO. No, Duel Monsters Network is a Virtual Reality MMO, where duelists worldwide can duel each other in the digital world." The entire crowd went into an uproar, demanding details. Everyone in the shop had also gone into an uproar, and then went silent as Kaiba pointed at one of the female reporters near the back.

"Mr. Kaiba, how does the virtual reality in this game work?"

"Simple, anyone who wishes to play must download the game, and purchase the virtual reality helmet console and card scanner. The CD included with the purchase includes the download for the game and the ability to access their profile, allowing them to create online avatars and virtual decks." The reporters began to ask the next question, and Kaiba selected a male reporter in the front row.

"Mr. Kaiba, with duelists going into the game, are there any possible dangers such as the game crashing?"

"We have taken every precaution in the safety of all players," the younger man said. "Should anything happen to a player, they are immediately logged out of the game and brought back out of the virtual world and into the real world." More questions, and a male in the very back was selected.

"Uh, Mr. Kaiba, not to put this down or anything, but hasn't Kaiba Corp attempted this already with a virtual reality game that was hacked by your five administrators?"

"That was 40 years ago," snapped Kaiba, "it was inferior compared to this new age of Duel Monsters."

The younger man stepped forward, "What Seto is trying to say, is that back then technology wasn't as advanced as it is now, so of course it was easy to hack. But now we have the technology to prevent those threats. We have the best firewalls and security programs installed into the mainframe. No one can even attempt a hack without us knowing about it. It would require a massive amount of military-grade tech just to make it past the first firewall. Okay, one more question."

A woman in the front was chosen, "Mr. Kaiba, to all those enthusiastic duelists out there, do you have anything you want to say to them."

"I have two things, actually. First of all, this game won't hit the shelves for another two months, but I will hosting a tournament here in Grand Veil City." Everyone in the shop began to talk excitedly. "I am inviting duelists from around the world to come here the day before its release to participate in the tournament. The top 4 duelists will recieve the first copies of the game, along with all the necessary equipment and a rare card. Finally," Seto Kaiba looked directly at the camera, and said, "I hope you're ready duelists, because the winner of the tournament will recieve a grand prize: $500,000 and the opportunity to duel me!"

Everyone suddenly went into an uproar, both at the press conference and in the store. Everyone that was in the shop immediately began to grab as many booster packs as they could. Jacob had to squeeze through the crowd just to escape, and eventually got out with the box of cards. He opened the box and made sure all the cards were there. He waited until most of the others had left, and looked inside his wallet. He still had $50 left, so he decided to buy 4 booster packs. He waited until he was next in line and placed the packs on the counter.

"Ah, back again I see? Okay, let me ring these up for you." He placed the money on the counter, and the woman said, "Are you entering the tournament? Registration begins in a month, you know." Jacob nodded and the woman gave him his change and the booster packs. "Come again," she said as Jacob left the store.

He hurried home and dashed inside, almost bumping into his father. "Whoa, where's the race?" he said, chuckling a bit.

"Sorry Dad, got new cards, need to remake deck, tournament, two months, BYE!" Jacob hurriedly said, barely taking a pause between statements. He ran past his father and dashed up the stairs into his room. He jumped onto his bed and began to tear open the booster packs, one by one. Some of the cards he got included Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade, Primordial Soup, Cosmo Queen, Ekibyo Drakmord, even the Synchro monsters X-Saber Wayne and X-Saber Urbellum and the Xyz cards Unformed Void and Baby Tiragon.

But it was the last pack that got him really excited: Maju Garzett, Steelswarm Girastag, Vice Dragon, Legendary Fiend, Eclipse Wyvern, Gladiator Beast Alexander, Monster Reborn, Magic Cylinder, and Shutendoji; it was a collector's dream come true for him. He quickly pulled out his deck and began to swap out cards with the booster pack cards and rare cards.

"Hmm, maybe take out this trap? Replace this spell with this one. Oh crap, I had four of these in here. Okay...that should do it." He began to shuffle his cards and looked at the top six cards: Luster Dragon, Cosmo Queen, Ekibyo Drakmord, Rising Energy, Blustering Winds, and Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade. 'Not a bad hand. I've got this tournament in the bag.' He placed the six cards he drew into his deck, putting them in between other cards, then shuffled his deck again.

*-not accurate, just a guess.

Okay, so for the tournament I intend to have at least one of the OCs meet Jacob in the tournament. Also, remember when I said certain cards wouldn't be allowed? I'm going to have to bend this a little because of some plot context. Also, to the guest who reviewed: yes, Duel Monster spirits will play a BIG role in the story. I also need up to two more OCs. Thanks again to the new Mew, Duellinglord, Chyna Costello, and utopianking for their OCs. R&R, PM, and get ready for a "turn-ament" of events! Ha ha, word play.